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Advocates for the visually impaired say the Kindle needs improvements; the submissions pool for a new literary journal is an online forum; staff at the Sonoma County Library system will take an unpaid furlough over the holidays; the musty smell of old books contains useful data for preservationists; the “On Translation” conference gets underway today in Vienna; and other news.
Amazon is re-releasing a trio of fiction titles originally published through BookSurge; Rupert Murdoch doesn’t want Google to keep him from charging for digital content; a British university press is hoping to expand its appeal with a new imprint; a public library in California is trying out a “fines-free” lending scheme; and other news.
A new tool lets “green” publishers stamp their eco-savings right into books; Amazon’s “Kindle for PC” app is live; Reed Elsevier suddenly has a new CEO; Andrew Sullivan’s print-on-demand project is steaming ahead; Reading, Pennsylvania may not lose its library branches after all; and other news.
Germany is looking for a way to handle the digitization of copyright “orphans”; an English teacher has been suspended for assigning an explicit story; Amazon is wooing literary agents; squabbling has broken out among a trio of indie bookstores in Wisconsin; Waterstone’s focus on the bottom line has critics decrying its effects on literary culture; and other news.
The Miami Book Fair International kicked off yesterday with a slightly leaner schedule; some of Britain’s university presses are ailing, some are banding together; B&N customers looking to preorder the Nook will have to wait a little longer than expected; amendments to the USA Patriot Act will face a Congressional vote; and other news.
For thousands of would-be novelists, November is NaNoWriMo; the New York Observer is getting a new editor; McSweeney’s is giving readers a taste of its long-awaited newspaper project; the Espresso Book Machine is gaining ground; a new study looks at how U.S. publishers are treating their employees; and other news.
LA’s inkSlam Poetry Festival is underway; the glut of Penguin merchandise has some concerned that the publisher is forgetting its radical roots; U.K. publishers are urging government action against digital piracy; zombie literature refuses to die; and other news.
The Internet Archive is offering libraries a legal scanning solution for copyright “orphans”; Hyperion has a new editor in chief; San Diego is pressing ahead with its long-delayed central library plans; a new Web site is testing the profitability of poetry; this spring’s Beirut39 festival will spotlight up-and-coming Arab authors; and other news.
Canadian publishers are receiving notice this week about federal grant allotments; Shipping News author E. Annie Proulx has donated her papers to the NYPL; writers, musicians, and booksellers in NYC are gathering to mark Indie Bookstore Week; Madrid will host Spain’s first e-book fair this month; and other news.
Nearly two thousand publishers are heading to Mexico this month for what organizers say is the world’s largest Spanish-language book fair; a prequel is in the works for the late Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot novels; Scholastic has pulled a title from its elementary school book fairs after the author refused to rewrite a same-sex couple as heterosexual; and other news.
